Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

M Kuentz

Publications and source records attributed to M Kuentz.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Acral erythema and systemic toxicity related to CHA induction therapy in acute myeloid leukemia.

Seventy-two adult patients with previously untreated acute myeloid leukemia received the CHA regimen as induction chemotherapy: CCNU 80 mg/m2 on day 1, Adriamycin 35 mg/m2 i.v. on days 1, 2 and 3, and continuous infusion of cytarabine 100 mg/m2/24 h from day 1 to 10. Forty-nine patients (68%) presented at least one of the following symptoms: acral erythema with dysesthesias in the palms and/or soles (39%); cholestatic hepatitis (39%); profuse sterile diarrhea associated with abdominal distention (33%); acute cerebellar dysfunction (32%) and non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema (21%). Most of these toxic symptoms appeared 8-20 days after the first dose. As these clinical features were absent or exceptional in patients treated with another regimen within a controlled trial, they are reported as toxic-side-effects of the chemotherapy regimen. Acral erythema was found to be predictive of complete remission (P less than 0.01, odds ratio: 6.33); neurotoxicity was prognostic for death in aplasia (P less than 0.05); the absence of any of the five symptoms was associated with failure of the induction regimen (P less than 0.02).

Adolescent↗

Mediastinal diffuse large-cell lymphoma with sclerosis: a condition with a poor prognosis.

Twenty patients (17 women, three men) with mediastinal diffuse large-cell lymphoma with sclerosis are reported. At the time of diagnosis, the disease was confined to supradiaphragmatic areas in all patients but two, who had kidney involvement (seven were stage I, 11 were stage II, and two were stage IV). A B-cell phenotype was demonstrated in nine of the 11 cases that were analyzed for cell lineage. All patients received an anthracyclin-containing regimen followed by mantle radiotherapy. Analysis of pretreatment characteristics showed that only the extent of disease influences outcome. Moreover, achievement of complete remission (CR) after chemotherapy appears to be a major prognostic factor. Two-year survival was better in patients who reached CR after chemotherapy than in those who did not (100% versus 9%; p less than 0.0001). Overall 2-year and 7-year survival rates were 50% and 33%, respectively. Therefore, localized mediastinal large cell lymphoma with sclerosis should be considered a high-risk subtype of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in which standard treatment approaches are unsuccessful.

Adolescent↗

Failure of a CD18/anti-LFA1 monoclonal antibody infusion to prevent graft rejection in leukemic patients receiving T-depleted allogeneic bone marrow transplantation.

CD18 antibodies react with the common beta chain of the human leukocyte function antigen (LFA1)* and thus block the functions mediated by the three identified molecules in humans. A murine CD18 monoclonal antibody was infused in 8 leukemic patients receiving allogeneic T-depleted bone marrow transplantation in order to prevent graft rejection. This was part of the conditioning, including total-body irradiation and high-dose chemotherapy, given to all patients. To prevent graft-versus-host disease the donor bone marrow T cells were depleted using complement-mediated cytolysis or a ricin A conjugate immunotoxin, and cyclosporine or methotrexate were given posttransplant. A persistent level of free circulating anti-LFA1 antibody was detected in 5/8 patients. Despite this, 5 graft failures occurred, with 2 patients experiencing late rejection (days 60 and 97) following HLA-identical transplantation and 3 patients having no engraftment following haplo-mismatched transplant. One other patient died of early sepsis. Only 2 patients (who differed at 1 HLA locus from their donor) are alive with long-term complete chimerism (300 and 315 days). Transient inhibition of recipients' leukocyte functions with an anti-LFA1 antibody did not appear to facilitate engraftment of allogeneic T-depleted marrow transplantation for leukemias.

Adolescent↗

Bone marrow transplantation for adult poor prognosis lymphoblastic lymphoma in first complete remission.

Twenty-five adult patients, 19 males, six females, age 16-43 years (median 23), with lymphoblastic lymphoma received allogeneic or autologous bone marrow transplantation in first complete remission. Twelve patients were Murphy stage IV with bone marrow and/or CNS involvement and 13 were stage III of whom nine had thoracic involvement. Complete remission was achieved with an intensive anthracycline containing multiagent chemotherapy protocol. Twelve patients with an HLA identical sibling received an allogeneic marrow and 13 without a donor received their own marrow harvested a median of 2 months (0-4 months) after complete remission and purged in vitro with either mafosfamide (eight patients) or anti T-cell monoclonal antibodies and complement (three patients). Bone marrow transplantation was performed 1-7 months (median 3 months) after achieving first complete remission. The conditioning regimen consisted of cyclophosphamide or high dose melphalan and total body irradiation. The actuarial 4-year disease-free survival is 68% (+/- 9% SE). The actuarial probability of relapse was 26% (+/- 3% SE) with a median follow up to 22 months. There was no difference between allogeneic and autologous transplantation with eight out of 12 allo patients in first continuous complete remission 26-45 months after transplant and nine out of 13 auto in continuous complete remission 15-75 months after transplant. These results compare favourably with those achieved with the best chemotherapeutic regimen used for such patients.

Adolescent↗

Venocclusive disease of the liver after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in man.

One hundred and fifty-one consecutive patients underwent allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (B.M.T.) following high-dose chemotherapy and single dose total body irradiation (T.B.I.) for hematologic malignancies between September 1980 and December 1985. All patients included in this study were treated using a 60 Co beam to deliver a prescribed dose of 10 Gy to the mid-plane of the abdomen. Total body irradiation was performed the day before B.M.T. The mean instantaneous dose-rate was 3.5 cGy/min (range: 2.6 to 4.7). The real dose received was measured using thermoluminescent dosimeters (lithium borate). The difference between the doses delivered to the liver and to the mid-plane of the abdomen did not exceed 5%. The mean real dose delivered to the reference point was 10 Gy (range 8.3 to 11.7). Ninety five per cent of the patients received a dose ranging from 9.1 Gy to 10.9 Gy. High-dose cyclophosphamide was given to 126 patients with a "standard-risk" of relapse (60 mg/kg on day 5 and 4 before B.M.T.). Chemotherapy was intensified by the addition of other drugs in 25 patients with "higher-risk" of relapse. We analyzed the effect of the following pretransplant characteristics on the subsequent posttransplant development of V.O.D.: age, sex, ASAT and/or ALAT before conditioning regimen, diagnosis and status of malignant disease, history of liver disease, interval between diagnosis of hematologic malignancy and B.M.T., conditioning regimen (i.e., classical or intensified) and dose delivered to the liver during T.B.I. Seventeen patients were classified as having clinical V.O.D. giving a prevalence of 11.2%. In the first 2 months following B.M.T., death occurred respectively in 9 of 17 (53%) and 23 of 134 (17%) patients with and without clinical V.O.D. Univariate analysis showed that four characteristics were significantly related to an increased prevalence of V.O.D.: sex (11/62 females vs 6/89 males; p less than 0.05); history of liver disease (7/28 vs 10/117 patients without antecedent; p less than 0.01); ASAT and/or ALAT levels greater than 1.5 upper normal limit (11/49 vs 6/102 patients with levels less than 1.5; p less than 0.01) and intensified conditioning regimen (6/25 vs 11/126 patients with classical regimen; p less than 0.05). The conditioning regimen and history of liver disease were highly correlated to transaminases levels. Only two factors, transaminases levels and female sex, remained significantly associated with V.O.D. after multivariate analysis.

Adolescent↗

The mixed epidermal cell lymphocyte-reaction is the most predictive factor of acute graft-versus-host disease in bone marrow graft recipients.

Risk factors for acute graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) remain controversial. We performed uni- and multivariate statistical analyses on a series of 37 patients receiving a non-depleted allogeneic bone marrow transplant from an HLA-identical sibling donor for a haematological malignancy, in order to identify risk factors for GvHD. Three factors were associated with development of moderate to severe GvHD: a positive mixed epidermal cell-lymphocyte reaction (MECLR) between donor and recipient, previous pregnancies in female donors and chronic myeloid leukaemia diagnosis. The MECLR was the most important predictive factor, selected in first rank by the stepwise linear discriminant analysis. Combining these three prognostic factors in the jackknifed procedure, we could correctly classify 33/37 patients in two groups: grade O-I versus grade II-IV acute GvHD. These results should apply to donor selection and to predict donor/recipient pairs at high risk of GvHD who might benefit of bone marrow T-cell depletion and those at low risk for whom depletion could be avoided.

Adolescent↗

Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in first complete remission.

Twenty-seven patients ranging in age from 15 to 36 years participated in a pilot study, and underwent allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in first complete remission (CR) in four French centers. All patients were grafted from human leukocyte antigen/mixed leukocyte culture (HLA/MLC) identical sibling after conditioning regimen consisting of cyclophosphamide and total body irradiation (TBI). Sixteen patients are alive in persistent first remission, with a median follow-up of 56 months (range, 41 to 82 months). The 6-year Kaplan-Meier probability of disease-free survival (DFS) is 59%. Only three patients relapsed (5, 7, and 7 months after transplantation). These interesting results have led us to propose, in accord with a French multicentric protocol, allogeneic BMT for adults under 40 years of age during the first CR of ALL.

Adolescent↗

Failure of combination chemotherapy of advanced follicular (low-grade) non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Twenty-two patients with Stage III and IV follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma were treated for 8 months by a chemotherapy regimen alternating between two different four-drug combinations (doxorubicin, teniposide, cyclophosphamide, prednisone; vincristine, cyclophosphamide, CCNU, prednisone). The overall response rate (complete and partial remission) was 68%. The complete remission rate was 23%. Twenty patients are alive, 50% of them are free of disease progression (median follow-up 76 months). It is concluded that our chemotherapy regimen is not satisfactory and that new therapeutic approaches are needed.

Adult↗

Mixed blood chimerism in T cell-depleted bone marrow transplant recipients: evaluation using DNA polymorphisms.

We have used DNA sequence polymorphism analysis to document engraftment after T cell-depleted bone marrow transplantation (BMT), with a selected panel of four DNA probes. In contrast to nondepleted BMT recipients, the patients who received T cell-depleted marrow exhibited a mixed blood chimerism. This mosaicism was observed before graft failure or relapse in six patients. However, in five other patients, this mixed chimerism was not followed by these complications with a follow-up of 9 to 31 months after transplantation. Our results support the hypothesis that transplanted bone marrow T cells may help to maintain engraftment by eliminating host cells that can cause graft failure.

Adult↗

T-cell depletion of bone marrow transplants: assessment of standard immunological methods of quantification.

The efficacy of bone marrow transplant (BMT) T-cell depletion for the prevention of acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) has been demonstrated in animal models and in clinical studies. The importance of T-cell depletion has to be evaluated with standardized methods suitable for routine purposes. We report herein an in vitro mature T-cell depletion using a cocktail of three monoclonal antibodies (CD2, CD5, and CD7) and baby rabbit complement in 38 histocompatibility leucocyte antigen (HLA)-identical BMT with no more than grade II acute GVHD. The T-cell depletion was quantified using three prestandardized immunological methods: immunofluorescence (IF) analysis, SRBC-rosetting assay, and PHA proliferation assay. A mean of 97.5% IF-assessed T-cell depletion was achieved in the 38 BMT. The immediate IF analysis using three distinct sets of anti-T-cell monoclonal antibodies allowed us to detect a mean of 1.2% residual T cells. The SRBC-rosetting assay was not useful to quantify T-cell depletion because no residual SRBC-rosette-forming cells could be detected in every case. The results of a prestandardized PHA-induced proliferation assay gave a mean 96.7% inhibition of proliferation, and they were correlated with the IF results although the IF threshold of detection was higher. From these data we conclude that our in vitro T-cell-depletion procedure is reproducible and that standardized simple immunological methods such as immediate immunofluorescence analysis and PHA proliferation assay provide good tools to assess a T-cell depletion effective in the prevention of acute GVHD.

Adolescent↗

High dose chemotherapy and autologous bone marrow transplantation in refractory Hodgkin's disease.

Seventeen patients with Hodgkin's disease (HD) were treated with high-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous bone marrow transplantation (ABMT). Eleven patients were resistant to initial therapy. Three patients had relapsed and were still responders to second or third line therapy. Three patients had relapsed but were progressing under second or third line therapy. Pre-ABMT chemotherapy included high dose cyclophosphamide in all patients (50 mg Kg-1 day-1 bolus for 4 days), most often associated with BCNU or CCNU, aracytine and 6 thioguanine. Four patients received additional TBI (10 Gy). In 9 patients complete remission (CR) was achieved, 4 failed to respond and 4 cases were not evaluable due to early death. Among CR patients, 2 died from late toxicity, 4 relapsed between the 2nd and 5th months, but 3 patients remain in CR, off therapy at 25+, 43+, and 66+ months, including 1/11 initially resistant and 2/6 who had relapsed. There were 9 treatment related deaths: 6 due to infection, 1 cardiac failure and 2 multiorgan failure. The high complete response rate in these heavily pretreated patients suggests that there may be an indication for high dose therapy earlier in resistant HD. Moreover under such conditions, treatment related morbidity would be expected to be lower.

Adolescent↗

[Specific meningeal involvement in multiple myeloma].

Meningeal involvement is extremely rare in multiple myeloma. Its characteristic features can be derived from the 3 cases presented here and from the 11 cases previously published. Specific signs of meningeal myelomatosis include convulsions, confusion, cranial nerve palsies and plasma cells in the cerebrospinal fluid. Meningitis develops in patients with high tumoral mass myeloma, leukaemic in one-half of the cases. Treatment is ineffective, and death occurs within a few months.

Adult↗

Acute promyelocytic leukemia in 57 previously untreated patients.

Fifty-seven patients in initial phase of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) were treated in the same department with heparin infusion, platelet transfusions, and two related induction regimens both including cytosine arabinoside and daunorubicin. Clinical and biological findings at presentation were studied. The complete remission (CR) rate was 53%. Twenty-seven patients (47%) died during the initial course of the disease, either before day 5 (early death [ED], n = 7) or after day 5 (death in aplasia [DA], n = 20). Most ED was due to intracerebral hemorrhage (6/7), especially when large hemorrhages had been seen on fundus oculi examination. Most DA was due to multivisceral failure (9/20). No correlation was found between initial disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) and death. However, the worsening of coagulation parameters during induction therapy, with or without initial DIC, significantly increased the occurrence of renal and respiratory failure which were particularly frequent during the first month. The median duration of survival was short (3.5 months) and the median duration of CR (11 months) was similar to that of other acute myeloid leukemias treated with the same regimens. The possible causes of the high mortality observed during the initial courses of APL and the possible benefit of a more graduate induction chemotherapy are discussed.

Acute Kidney Injury↗

Intestinal complications of wide field abdominal irradiation for lymphoma.

We report bowel complications on a series of 32 patients treated with wide field abdominal irradiation for lymphoma between 1979 and 1983. Irradiation was preceded by chemotherapy in 30/32 patients. Fifteen of the 32 patients received total abdominal irradiation and 17/32 received upper hemi-abdominal irradiation to a dose of 20-25 Gy. A boost of 5-20 Gy to a reduced volume was added in 14/32. A special diet was prescribed from the start of irradiation. Immediate tolerance to irradiation was good in 94% of patients. Only five patients developed delayed bowel complications. Definite radiation-induced bowel changes were demonstrated in only two of these cases and other pathology was found to explain the symptomatology in the remaining three. Comparison with a previous series of 50 lymphoma patients treated with total abdominal irradiation to 30 Gy plus inverted Y boost to 10 Gy demonstrated a net improvement in the immediate tolerance and reduction in the incidence and gravity of delayed radiation-related bowel complications in the current series. The reasons for the improved early and late bowel tolerance (radiation dose and volume, etc.) as well as conditions which can mimic late radiation enteritis, will be discussed.

Abdominal Neoplasms↗

Legionnaires' disease and hairy-cell leukemia. An unfortuitous association?

Four cases of legionnaires' disease were diagnosed by specific serologic tests in a group of 33 immunocompromised patients admitted to the same hematologic department for acute febrile pneumonitis. The underlying disease of these four patients was hairy-cell leukemia (HCL) in three cases and allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in the other. This article stresses the enhanced susceptibility of patients with HCL to Legionella pneumophila and discusses its possible causes, especially monocyte deficiency. We propose the use of erythromycin as part of the initial empiric antibiotic therapy in immunocompromised hosts with acute pneumonitis until the results of specific serologic tests or isolation of L pneumophila is obtained.

Adult↗